


Counting Stars

by AislingSiobhan



Series: Prompts and Gifts [29]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Character Death, Dubious Consent, Gift Fic, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied Obadiah Stane/Tony Stark, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Lives, Kissing, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Omega Howard Stark, Omega Tony Stark, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Past Tiberius Stone/Tony Stark - Freeform, Protective Steve Rogers, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Steve is Tony’s father, first WinterIron fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-18 01:38:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7294315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AislingSiobhan/pseuds/AislingSiobhan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were three things Tony knew to be universal truths. First: Stark men were made of iron; they were strong, durable, easily corrodible. Two: Stark men had terrible taste in alphas; one day they'd just up and leave, and there was nothing the omega could do about it. Three: Tony Stark was an omega and his bearer hated him for it. </p><p>And, four: Captain America was Tony's father. </p><p>Ok, so maybe there were four things that Tony knew to be true, but he was still hedging his bet on that last one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lovingsiri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovingsiri/gifts).



This is for Lovingsiri on AO3 who has been patiently waiting over a year for me to write a Steve is Tony’s father fic. Enjoy! 

 

**“Counting Stars”**

**Disclaimer:** The Avengers, Tony, Loki, etc belong to Marvel, Stan Lee, et co. I make no money from this and own nothing, don’t sue.  
**Summary:** [Bucky/Tony] There were three things Tony knew to be universal truths. First: Stark men were made of iron; they were strong, durable, easily corrodible. Two: Stark men had terrible taste in alphas; one day they'd just up and leave, and there was nothing the omega could do about it. Three: Tony Stark was an omega and his bearer hated him for it. And, four: Captain America was Tony's father. Ok, so maybe there were four things that Tony knew to be true, but he was still hedging his bet on that last one.  
**Warnings:** Slash. Bucky/Tony. Post-Avengers. AU Civil War. Alpha/Omega. Past Steve/Howard. Heat. Allusions to heat sex. Kissing. First winteriron fic. A/B/o universe. Gift fic. Winter soldier recovery. Dubious consent. Character death. Past Tiberius Stone/Tony. Rhodey is a bro. Steve is Tony’s father. Mpreg (Howard).  
**Rating:** R  
**Prompt:** Steve as Tony's father. Howard and Steve were best friends and Howard endlessly looked for Steve so it could be because he was in love with him and pregnant or Steve could have been pregnant. Steve could be found early and raise Tony as a kid or he could still be found 70 years later and still try to parent Tony as he is still an arrogant fool

 _XXX_

Counting stars wishing I was okay;  
~~Crashing down was my biggest mistake.~~  
I never ever, ever meant to hurt you,  
I only did what I had to  
Counting stars, again.  
\-- Sugarcult 

_XXX_

**Words:** 11,004  
**Chapter 1**  
There were three things Tony knew to be universal truths. First: Stark men were made of iron; they were strong, durable, easily corrodible. Two: Stark men had terrible taste in alphas; one day they'd just up and leave, and there was nothing the omega could do about it. Three: Tony Stark was an omega and his bearer hated him for it. 

And, four: Captain America was Tony's father. 

Ok, so maybe there were four things that Tony knew to be true, but he was still hedging his bet on that last one. Normal couples (and what was normal really since betas could get with betas, and hell even omegas were shacking up with other omegas nowadays) consisted of an alpha male or female and an omega female or male or both (or a beta). Tony had an omega bearer (Howard Stark) and an alpha mother (Maria Stark nee Carbonell) and _apparently_ an alpha father who had died during world war two. Tony hadn't been born until 25 years later, so yeah, he was calling bullshit on the whole thing. Howard had ranted and raved, thrown tumblers half full of scotch and kicked desks and chairs and computers if they were between him and Tony anytime Tony questioned him though, so Tony took it upon himself to figure it out when he was fifteen years old. Asking Howard for answers was hard. It was easy to sneak a sample of his parents' DNA, easier still to pass it off to an acquaintance, a grad student at MIT, who tested it and returned the results to Tony (a couple grand richer for his silence). Tony didn't have any of Steve Roger's DNA to match his own to, but he had Howard's - and there it was in lines and dots and ink. Bearer: Howard Stark. Alpha: unknown. 

Unknown - as in do not know. As in, Tony had thought hysterically at the time, not Maria Stark. 

But not Captain America either, he told himself every time Howard compared him to Tony and found the child lacking, or when Tony finally displayed (as an omega, not an alpha like the great Captain America, how disappointed they all were, how disappointed Steve would be) Howard threw things at him on his sixteenth birthday - wine glasses, birthday gifts, ornaments, picture frames, whatever he could get his hands on until Jarvis burst through the doorway and dragged Tony away. They left the guests watching with wide eyes and open mouths, and Howard's cheque book was significantly lighter the following day, but the papers stayed quiet too. 

Howard have loved and lost, and boo fucking hoo, Tony thought uncharitably, because he had lost too. 

He had an alpha mother who barely acknowledged him (and why would she; he wasn't hers, Tony was lucky she hadn't tried to hurt him, force him out of the nest so she could breed her omega in peace, without the cuckoo amongst them). He had a bearer that hated the sight of him, compared him constantly to a dead man and spent most of his time digging hopefully through the ice in a vain attempt to find the body. He had a butler (his friend, his family) who tired, but no law on earth would give custody of an underage omega to an unmated, unrelated Alpha (nevermind that Jarvis had been mated until Ana died). Obi had tried too, and for a while Tony thought of running away with Obi, sticking up the proverbial middle finger to his father while spreading his legs for the much older alpha, embracing the omega lifestyle his father despised so much, but every time Obadiah touched him Tony's skin crawled. 

There was Rhodey. Tony still had Rhodey, his platonic soulmate, honeybear, light of his life - he could go on. For a while there was Tiberius Stone. Ty and Rhodey had gotten into a fight when Tony was seventeen though, and well, that was the last Tony saw of his alpha. There might have been no bond bite on his neck, or pup in his belly, but what Tony's body knew his mind hadn't quite accepted, and for two months he mourned the abandonment of his alpha, refused to speak to Rhodey, refused to leave his dorm. 

And then his parents had died. 

Maybe he should clarify one of the earlier statements. Two: Stark men were always, always going to be abandoned; no discrimination against alphas, because Ana had died and left him, and Aunt Peggy had moved to D.C. and left him, and Howard had died and left him, and they were all omegas. Maria had died and left him. Jarvis--

Jarvis had--

Tony didn't go to the funeral. 

Obadiah called him. Left him a fucking _voicemail_ while Tony had been working on his end of year project in the student lab. Rhodey had checked their joint voicemail, and come looking for Tony before anyone else could tell him (it was on the news, in the papers, there were already talks of erecting a monument in remembrance by the time Obadiah thought to (bother to) tell Tony). Tony had cried, clung to Rhodey as if he hadn't spent the last two months pretending his roommate didn't exist, and an hour after Rhodey had managed to get him into bed, cried out and shaking, Tony woke to heat pooling low in his belly. 

They could have waited. Tony's heats only lasted two days, but the Board pushed ahead, wanted to brush it all under the rug before the stocks dropped any lower. Terrible for business, car accidents, you know. The death of the owner and CEO, even worse. Their son going into heat and missing the funeral? Not so much of a big deal. 

Rhodey went, showing his face to make excuses for Tony. While he was gone, another alpha took his place. 

Tony wasn't sure how or why, except that he woke up the evening after the funeral, sweaty and sticky and sore. He remembered vague flashes of movement, the sight of his own hands fisting the blankets and pillows by his head, pressure on his hips, at the base of his spine, _noises_ that he would have been embarrassed to have made if he had been in his right mind... There had been low, familiar grunting too, like the kind Ty used to make just before he came, leaning over Tony to bite into his pillow, and avoid his throat, to appease his instincts. But this wasn't familiar. This hadn't been him and Ty messing around for old time's sake. And there was a stinging at the back of his neck, and his fingers came away splotchy with congealing blood when Tony touched it, and he smelt different. 

Before, he smelt like Tony, a mix of oil, grease, faint omega (unless he was in heat), and the synthetic shampoo he used. Now, he smelt like the rest of the room: of sex, and alpha, that particular alpha, the one who had fucked him open and left his seed inside of him, who had used his knot to keep it all in place (and Tony wasn't sure how he knew that, only that he did know, and the thought terrified him). He had called Rhodey, told him he'd made a drunken mistake, and begged his friend to bring home a packet of the morning after pill from the pharmacy on the way back. Rhodey had reamed him out about being an idiot, and not using protection, especially during his heat, and for locking Rhodes out of the dorm the night before. 

Tony took three showers with his synthetic body wash before Rhodey arrived, and used Rhodey's shampoo to mask the lingering traces of an unfamiliar alpha on his skin. He didn't talk about what had happened - or what he could and couldn't remember about what had happened - and he waited two weeks, practically sick to his stomach with anxiety, before he could be sure he wasn't pregnant. The Alpha never came back. So, ok, maybe there was something to the whole Stark alphas up and leaving them thing, because omegas usually only left Tony when they died, but alphas? Alphas were fucking assholes. 

_XXX_

Peggy hadn't come to Howard and Maria's funeral either. They weren't really on speaking terms since that time she had caught Howard hitting him when he was eleven and threatened to take Tony away. A restraining order took care of that though. 

Peggy came back for Jarvis' funeral, and when Tony saw her in the second row of the church (hardly full, mostly empty, so unlike the Starks' and so unfair because Jarvis deserved it more), he forgot about how angry he had been that she'd left him, how sad, how lonely. He moved from where he had been sitting and curled into her side, head tucked against her shoulder and neck the way he used to when he was a child. She smelled like cinnamon and hairspray, the starch she used for her collar (old habit from her SHIELD days), and something sweet that Tony could never quite put a name to – but Ana had smelt like that too, so in his head he called it "family". 

Her arm curled around him, and he hid his sobs in her collar as the priest droned on and on. They had stood side by side as the casket was lowered, greeted guests and thanked them for coming together, like family was supposed to do. Once everyone had left, and the rain had started to fall, Peggy had pulled Tony against her chest to chest and cried into his hair, whispering how sorry she was. For a moment Tony had thought she was talking about Jarvis, who had been Peggy's friend before he was Tony's family. Then, her fingers started carding through his hair, nails catching on the very top of the still healing bond bite on the nape of his neck. He felt sick, and dizzy, and breathless, but he was able to blame it on the emotional stress of the funeral when he collapsed and Peggy had to half carry him to his car. 

_XXX_

Tony hadn't wanted to go back to the mansion, too full of memories and far too empty. Peggy had sold her modest two-bedroom brownstone when she moved to D.C., and Rhodey's parents lived in Philadelphia, so that was out too. They ended up at some hole in the wall diner that had been around since Tony's childhood but Howard had never let him eat at. Ball cap pulled down low, scarf pulled up and sunglasses on, Tony considered if he should pursue a career in espionage, but then dismissed it; tugging his scarf hurriedly away from his face as the waitress placed his double cheeseburger and fries on the table before him. Peggy had ordered a coffee and a wrap that sounded way too healthy for Tony to bother remembering its name. 

It was here, at 11pm, after Jarvis' funeral and an afternoon spent driving in circles around Manhattan until the day turned into night and Tony's tears had dried up, when Tony learnt that Number Four was also a truth. 

It had been a shock, obviously. Tears had pooled in his eyes, his heart had jumped into his throat and gotten caught there. Nails bit into his thighs as he clenched and unclenched them, and squeezed. Even years later, long after the shock had worn off, the memory was little more than a fuzzy blur. Howard and Captain America: that had been a thing. Howard had been claimed, bonded; Tony had known that. Howard had been pregnant when Steve died - Howard had always claimed it to be so, though Tony had never really believed it. But this was the first time Tony was hearing about the pregnancy itself, his birth, his first few years when Peggy had practically raised him because Howard was still grieving for his dead mate and Maria (an old friend of Peggy's whose beta had left her for another woman) had tried to care for Tony on her own but couldn't, wouldn't. Something about Cryopreservation and the USSR that he hadn't really understood at the time, some procedure that had never quite made its way onto the general market or into Countries that should know better. Every year, Howard would see the same doctor, accompanied by a tall, dark-haired man - more of a shadow than a man, half-hidden, silent, out of sight and out of mind - undergo a procedure that left him shaking for days after, until 25 years later when the doctor and his successor failed to turn up for an appointment and were never seen alive again. 

The dark haired man had been there that final time, and Peggy couldn’t hear what he had said to Howard, but she had seen the way his spine straightened and how he gritted teeth and how stiffly he walked back towards the car where she always waited to drive him home in secret. Three weeks later, she had introduced him to Maria; they eloped six days later and SHIELD created a fake relationship for them that spanned more time than Howard had even known Steve. 

Tony had pushed it from his mind, choked down his burger, and waited for Peggy to ask about his new alpha. She never did, and he was so grateful that he insisted on going home the second the cheque was paid in case she changed her mind. He didn't ask questions about Howard, or Steve, or the Soviet doctor. Fifteen years later, when Tony decided he actually, maybe, kind of wanted to know about his father, Peggy was already showing signs of memory loss and Dum Dum Duggan (who also knew) wasn't home each of the ninety seven times Tony had tried to contact him or visit. 

And because none of them went to Howard's funeral, none of them remembered the tall, dark-haired man who hovered at the back of the church silently, waiting for Tony Stark - waiting to complete his mission.

 _XXX_

He remembered that his name was James, but everyone had called him Bucky. He had a mother, three sisters, and had had a father who had died in the war. He had a best friend, Stevie - a tiny, stick of a thing, always sickly, always getting into fights regardless - who had saved him, first from Red Skull, and then from Hydra, and lastly from himself. Stevie was Steve now (to everyone but Bucky), taller and bigger than Bucky remembered him being, except for a few memories just before he fell. He remembered Howard, who built Steve's shield, who flew Stevie to save him, whose scent had been covered by Steve's own, who reeked of alpha and oestrogen and _pup_ \- who Bucky had sworn to protect if anything ever happened to Captain America during the war. 

The Winter Soldier remembered killing Howard. He had killed Howard's wife too (not his mate, never his mate), but the pup had been missing. Tony hadn't come to the funeral - and there had been no elder sibling who could have been Stevie's child but the Soldier remembered Howard and Doctor Syanov. He hadn't known why or how or what, but he knew who they were. Stevie's pup had been a lot younger than Bucky had been prepared for - not an adult fighting for his life against the Soldier, but a teenager. Young, sweet, and pure, and in the middle of a heat once the Soldier had finally tracked him down. 

He couldn't now remember why he had then, or what he had been thinking. Though, looking back, Bucky knew the Soldier had probably recognised Howard's face on a younger omega, and Steve's scent mixed with his bearer's. He had promised to take care of him, to protect him, and what better way to have the right to protect an omega than to mate them? His memories of the rut were confusing at best and impossible to unravel at worst; even worse than sorting real from not real while the Soldier was still mostly in control. He knew he had bonded, claimed and owned, and hurt the omega. 

He knew, every time he messed up a mission afterwards - after Hydra had forced him to return, caught on his way to fetch food for his new mate, five handlers later and a platoon of guards all dead by his enraged hands and three hours in the chair - the new handler threatened his mate. The Soldier always, always completed his missions from then on out, even when he didn't want to or didn't understand why, or when his target was calling him 'Bucky' and he didn't know why – but he _tried_. 

His mate's safety was more important than anything else, and he could never quite remember where his mate was or who he was or whether Hydra already had him. He didn't know how to find him. 

Not until Stevie found him, burst in on him in Austria as soldiers stormed the building, and the scent of his fellow alpha hit him. Spicy, but familiar: similar to another sweeter version of the same thing. It had the muscles in his stomach tightening, saliva tickling the back of his throat and sweat beading on his neck, in his arm pits, his own scent thickening in warning. Whoever Steve was now - whether he knew Bucky before the Soldier or not - he knew the Soldier's omega. And it made Bucky want to punch Steve in the teeth. 

_XXX_

Waking up seventy years in the future could have driven anyone mad. It might actually have driven Steve mad; no one was volunteering to argue with Captain America and tell him he wasn't 'doing just fine', after all. Howard was dead, which had been like a verbal knife to the gut, but he had married and lived and had a child at least (another wound Steve manfully bore up to). Finding out that the child had been his - was still his - and the headache inducing explanation that Director Fury had tried to give him (pieced together from what Peggy had remembered and what Dum Dum would tell them after he came back out of hiding: a strange dark-haired man in a ski mask following you around for 48 hours would send anyone into hiding) left Steve reeling. He simultaneously wanted to meet Tony and never wanted to see him. He wanted his omega's son, _his_ son, but he also never wanted to think about how much he had missed, how little time they might have left together now that Tony was a 40-something year old man who excelled at getting himself blown up and shot at. 

Steve had never expected his first meeting with Tony to involve aliens and space portals and those horrible, horrible words he had said before the helicarrier was shot out of the sky. Or Tony falling, silent from space to the ground until the Hulk caught him. Or how Tony had invited everyone but him to live at the Tower after the debris had been cleared up. Not until later on, when the Winter Soldier had surfaced on SHIELD's radar, had Tony taken much interest in getting to know his father. 

After finding Bucky, after bringing him home from Austria, watching the way he shoved Tony back against the nearest wall and kept his body between the omega and everyone else in the room snarling furiously all the while, well, Steve could say it explained a lot. But it really, really didn't. 

_XXX_

"Uh," someone said, sounding as confused as Bucky himself felt. "What the fuck?"

The voice had come from behind him, and there were hands curled over his shoulders, fingers digging in slightly on the right and drumming over where the metal met flesh on the left. Heat pressed against his back, and breath tickled his neck, and there was nothing threatening about this person being so close to his nape, or about the top of his hips bumping low on Bucky's ass. He smelt like omega, sweet and fresh and owned - and the Soldier chanted "minemineminemine" inside his head as Bucky tried to figure out how he went from the elevator doors to across the room. Stark didn't seem to understand either, judging by the second round of confused mumbling, nor did Steve because he hadn't answered either question. 

Bucky glanced up at his oldest friend, eyes narrowed, and had to fight against his instincts in order to lower his hands from where they were balled in front of his chest - ready to fight. 

Steve's own hands hung limply at his sides: when Bucky first tore his way across the room, Steve had been seconds behind him, going around the couch rather than over it as the brunet had, but when Bucky had grabbed Tony as the other man walked in from the kitchen, shoved him up against a wall and then pinned him there with his own body, Steve had felt rage unlike anything else he'd ever known fill him. Head to toe, he trembled with it, hands balling up, knees bending slightly as he prepared himself for a brawl. But Tony hadn't screamed, or struggled, or done anything other than drop his cup of coffee to immediately put his hands on Bucky's shoulders. And Buck - Buck had bared his teeth at anyone who came too close, hissed at Natasha eyes narrowed in distrust, and snarled "mine" when Steve tried to glance around his bulk to meet Tony's eyes. 

"Huh," Tony mumbled - obviously having worked it all out before Steve had so much as picked up the first clue - as he gave Bucky a nudge with both hands in the centre of the back. Barnes wouldn't have moved if he didn't want to; alphas, especially enhanced alphas, were always stronger than omegas. "So you're not dead. Figured you might be, haven't seen you in a while. Not since you killed my parents, whoa man, long time, anyway." He slipped out from behind Bucky, darted away from the flesh hand that tried to grab him and went back into the kitchen. He called over his shoulder, without looking back, "see you around, asshole."

Bucky blocked the doorway so that none of the others could follow him, but he didn't go in either. Rhodey, who hadn't left during the commotion, handed Tony another cup of coffee, to replace the one that had shattered all over the living room floor, and asked, "that him?"

"Yup," Tony replied, popping the p. 

"Asshole," Rhodey agreed, immediately: the way all best friends were supposed to do when it came to guys who hurt their BFFs. "Want me to beat him up?"

"Wanna break both your hands?"

"I got the suit," he joked (but not really, cause super-soldier or not, no one got away with hurting Tony Stark if James Rhodes could do something about it). 

"It was a long time ago," Tony said softly, shrugging his shoulders as he raised the mug with both hands to sip at his coffee. He drank slowly, until it was all gone, and Rhodey waited in silence until his friend was ready to talk about it. 

Those few days after the elder Starks' funeral had been strange for Rhodes. Tony had been twitchy and withdrawn, abnormally quiet and he never left their dorm room, always sleeping in Rhodey's bed, never his own. After Jarvis' funeral, when Rhodey started noticing the alphas who used to bother Tony - never taking no for an answer unless it was accompanied by a fist or two - edging around him in the corridors, sitting in seats that left empty spaces between them and Tony, deferring to him the way they always should have before because Tony was always right but they didn't because he was also an omega, he confronted his friend. Not in the normal way someone confronts another; rather, Rhodey pressed himself up against Tony's back while they cuddled on their shared couch, watching some crappy movie. When Tony stayed relaxed, Rhodey waited a few moments more and then sniffed at his neck. Tony's only response was to reach back and lightly swat Rhodes on the top of his head. 

"My mate," Rhodey had whispered, as his nose ran along the scars left by the bond bite, as the scent of an unfamiliar alpha entwined with Tony's own invaded his nostrils. 

"I'm not your mate," Tony hissed, angrily pulling away, so sharply that he rolled off of the couch with the momentum. 

"Then where's your alpha?" Rhodey had asked, on a roll. Tony's response this time was to climb back onto the couch, bury his face in Rhodey's chest, and sob about how a Stark's alpha always abandons them: it was a rule. Rhodey had sworn, then and there, to find him and kill him; it was only now more than twenty years later that Rhodey seeing the piece of shit for the first time. 

But it was harder to hate someone who had been tortured, brain washed, and imprisoned by Hydra, than it was to hate a deadbeat alpha that couldn't take responsibility for his actions. He still wanted to go out there and punch Bucky in the face, but, in context, well. He decided to wait and see as he poured Tony another cup of coffee. Bucky's response hadn't been the norm for an alpha who had thought better of a claim; the guy actually seemed to want Tony, had claimed him verbally in front of most of the Tower's occupants, had even squared up to Captain America in an unnecessary attempt to protect the omega. When Tony had walked away from him, Bucky hadn’t tried to force him to stay, hadn’t grabbed him or dragged him around, or alternatively told him to fuck off. Ok, so Bucky hadn't followed Tony either; he waited, watched them in silence, but he kept both hands and feet firmly inside the living room. He kept everyone else in there too. 

Tony was half way through his second cup of coffee when he spoke again, dragging Rhodey out of his thoughts. "Can we not right now? I barely remember it, and I have way too many other things to focus on - Pep's gonna kill me if I don't finish those reports and send them off to her, and Pierce is making demands again, and fuck I still have to fix whatever the fuck Barton did to the widow bites last night. If I don't, you know we'll be called to assemble and widow can't bite anyone without her bites, which would suck, for her, and for me, and kinda also for Nick cause it'd be his fault somehow I'm sure--"

"He's dead," Rhodey butted in with a smirk, but Tony steamrolled over him.

"--Technicality. Steve wants his super friends forever BFF and sunshine and rainbows and ponies, and this is New York so I can only do some of those things, so might as well let him keep Ice Age around. Although, let's keep him away from me? Jarvis, I'm going to work from the lab, lockdown for daddy once I'm in there, yeah? Cool. Ok, well nice chat Honeybear, let's do it again sometime. Huh," he paused for breath, shook his empty cup and sighed, "I'm out of coffee. Who drank my coffee?"

"You did." Rhodey sighed, but handed over another full cup straight away - far too used to Tony by now to not have been prepared. "I'm sure Jarvis has more percolating downstairs as we speak." 

"Ok Severus Snape, time to loiter somewhere other than my doorway." Tony hadn't touched Bucky at all, but the soldier shifted to one side. He didn't leave much room, and he kept himself between Tony and Steve, but Tony sucked it up, breathed in deeply and squeezed between the other body and the doorframe without complaint. He hadn't dropped his cup this time, and someone else had already cleaned up the mess, so he was ruling that morning as an overall win. "Don't wait up, daddy dearest, lots to do and all that. Bye." 

"Tony!" Steve called after him, trying to push passed Bucky, but the soldier didn't move and his son didn't stop walking until he was in the elevator. "Come on Tony! We need to talk." 

"We really don't," the genius muttered (just loud enough for the supersoldiers to hear him) as the doors closed and the numbers above the lift started counting down. 

"What was that about?" Steve snarled, whirling Bucky around by his shoulders. 

With Tony out of sight, and the scent of him no longer as strong, Bucky's head was clearer. He was more Bucky Barnes now, and less the Winter Soldier who against all odds associated 'Tony' with 'mate' despite every brain wipe. Being told he had an omega and _knowing_ he had an omega were two separate things. He blinked rapidly, shook his head twice and then shrugged. 

"What's it to you, punk?" He knew why Steve cared, of course he knew, it was almost impossible not to smell Steve on Tony or to see Steve in the jut of Tony’s stubborn jaw – but Steve was an alpha, Tony was _his_ mate, and Steve had no right being interested in _his omega_. He couldn't resist the urge to puff out his chest and needle the other man. Wanted to keep Tony all to himself, away from this alpha, and that alpha in the kitchen, and the beta he could smell somewhere in the Tower. Tony was his. 

Tony was _his_...

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Bucky flinched his way out from under it. He had stopped growling too, which was a plus. "Sorry," he muttered at Steve, ducking his head down so that his fringe hid his expression. "Sorry about that," he added, waving his hand at the kitchen. "Still, I really don't think you want to know."

"Oh, Buck, I really, really do, trust me. Tony'd rather have his teeth pulled with pliers [Bucky hissed, agitated at the thought of his mate being hurt] than talk to me about anything non-Avengers related, so I guess I'll have to hear it from you. Get talking." It was an order, not a request. 

The Winter Soldier had always been good at following orders. 

This time was no different. 

Once he had finished explaining all that he could remember about Howard Stark (old friend, science experiment, pregnant, the Handler, the mission) and Maria Stark (collateral damage, wife, not mate, never mate) and their deaths, their funerals, and about Tony Stark (target, heat, child, friend, protect, mate, claim, mate, minemineminemine) Bucky had about ten seconds to process the look of rage that crossed Steve's face. It was so unlike anything he had ever seen before, and then it was followed by five seconds of grief (like the look Bucky had seen as he fell from the train, arm outstretched, but fingers empty). That was followed by the blur of Steve's right fist, before it met his face. Bucky didn't bother getting up off of the floor, not when Steve left the room…

Not when the other alpha came out of the kitchen and told him: "I can't blame you for leaving, not if Hydra took you back. And I can't blame you for not killing him, I'm very glad you didn't kill him. I know it's not logical, but I'm going to blame you for taking against his will, for breaking his heart, and adding to his severely long list of abandonment issues. I'ma give you one chance, Barnes. It's going to take time, and grovelling, lots of grovelling. It's been a year and Tony still hasn't forgiven Steve for not actually being dead. But he's worth it, the time, the effort; if you're serious about him it'll be worth it. However,” he paused long enough to point threateningly at Bucky’s wide-eyed face, “you fuck it up, I'll fuck you up, deal?" 

Barnes nodded once, eyes meeting the other alpha's (Tony's family, Tony's friend, not a threat, his hindbrain screamed over the sound of the Soldier chanting "mineminemine" in his head). When Rhodey left, Bucky stayed where he was. He was still there nine hours later, but he'd tucked his legs under him to get more comfortable, rolled out the kinks in his neck a couple times, and drummed the fingers of his metal hand against the floor to the tune of some inane pop song that he'd heard the weekend before about seven hundred and twelve times. Tony found him there, walked around him, got more coffee from the kitchen and got back into the elevator in silence. 

The next morning, Bucky was still there, waiting. Tony rolled his eyes, sighed so loudly Bruce stuck his head out of the kitchen with his eyebrows furrowed until Tony waved him away. 

"You're pathetic," Tony told him. Bucky nodded in agreement: whatever his mate said, whatever he did, Bucky deserved it. The Soldier had left him, and Rhodes was right; they needed to grovel. To do whatever it took to make Tony forgive them, to like them, to _love_ them like Bucky’s parents had. Mates were supposed to, but the Soldier had messed up, so it was up to them to fix it. 

"The coffee'll get cold if you wait much longer," Tony called back, once he was in the kitchen, mug in hand. Barnes joined him in the space of one breath to the next, so fast Tony had trouble keeping up. 

"Well, he must like coffee," Tony muttered as he poured another cupful and handed it over. Bucky didn't respond other than to thank him for the mug, and he certainly didn't correct Tony for fear of sending him fleeing back down to his lab. When Bruce finished his breakfast and left, Tony was on his third mug, Bucky had choked down his second, and neither of them spoke for another half hour. However, Tony didn’t immediately flee the room after deciding he had had enough coffee. Bucky counted _that_ as a win. 

_XXX_

It took Bucky about a month to realise that Tony wasn't avoiding him, per se. Sometimes Tony just disappeared into his lab to work for days at a time and then collapsed against the nearest flat, comfortable surface. It was normal, and it had nothing to do with Bucky's presence at the elevator doors that led to the workshops leading to Tony choosing to sleep on the workshop couch. That was normal too, unless he needed a shower, or ran out of coffee in the lab. After two and a half weeks, Bucky realised that the elevator doors would open without him asking (there were no buttons for him to press and he had never asked because he assumed he'd be refused). It was the end of the month before he worked up the nerve to step inside and let the doors close behind him. 

He didn't tell Steve where he was going or what he planned to do. Partially, despite his interest in Tony being nothing like Bucky's own, Steve was _another_ alpha. But also because if it were Bucky's pup in question, he wouldn't have let anyone like _him_ near them. They'd deserve better - they'd deserve the best, and Bucky wasn't damaged enough to fool himself into thinking that he approached anywhere near the level of perfection he'd expect in his future alpha-in-law. 

JARVIS opened the elevator doors once they reached the workshop level in silence. He didn't prompt Bucky to leave the lift, and it took him approximately three minutes to put one foot in front of the other and step into the workshop proper. Less time than it took Tony to notice Bucky waiting there.

"Hey, T-800, whacha doing out there?" Bucky didn't get the reference, and the part of him that had been (and probably always would be) the Winter Soldier didn't recognize it either; but they both understood the way Tony inched behind his workbench, putting it between him and the other man as the workshop's glass doors opened up. "Want some coffee?"

The coffee machine was on Bucky's side of the workshop, so he helped himself in silence, made two cups and then slowly - so that Tony could track his movements - put one mug on the workbench and slid it forward. Tony grabbed it, blew on it and drank from it, and beside him Dum-E patted his arm with his metal claw and beeped rapidly. Tony hummed in response, tilted his head to one side, and nudged the robot's wheels with his left foot until Dum-E wheeled out of the way. Tony moved towards him, seemingly unconcerned by Bucky's presence, ignoring the fact that he had instinctively tried to hide. When they were face to face, the engineer smiled widely, and waved at the couch that was pushed up against the wall closest to the door. 

"Wanna sit?" He asked, nodding his head in that direction, "or did you need something?"

"Something's wrong with my arm," Bucky told him, voice soft and hoarse. "Steve said you could fix it." If Tony knew he was lying, he didn't let on, but he sat himself down on the couch and patted the space beside him with one hand while handing his coffee off to Dum-E with the other. A second robot appeared from the shadowy corner at the left of the room, a tool kit clutched in its claw-arm. 

"Thanks, U. Good job!" It beeped happily in response, then rolled towards the little sink at the very back of the shop to fight with Dum-E about whose turn it was to wash up. "Dumbass," Tony mumbled fondly, opening the kit and rifling through it without looking. He winked at Bucky, waiting for a response, and when he didn't receive one, shrugged his shoulders and held out a screw driver and a pen torch. "So, what happened?"

"Dunno," Bucky mumbled evasively, "just noticed it was sore earlier." He wasn't about to admit that realising that Tony wouldn't stop him from going into the workshop didn't mean that he knew he'd be allowed to stay, and so took a screw driver to himself, pulling out a cog or two (which he had in his back pocket, just in case Tony actually really needed them) to give himself a valid reason to spend time with his omega. 

Thirty minutes, a battery upgrade and 6 new wires later (Tony hadn't needed those cogs) Bucky's arm was better than before he messed it up. He was feeling better all round, to be honest. Tony had smiled at him four times, hummed in half-interested agreement three times to various suggestions of Bucky spending more time in the lab, and verbally agreed when he prodded the issue. Tony had even laughed twice; old war stories - rather the lulls between the wars where they'd skive off into the nearest town and try and convince a native girl or two to sneak back with them - making him grin and tease good naturedly. No one mentioned alphas, or omegas, or Howard Stark, or Steve either actually; Tony shared some general avengers stories - usually about Clint falling off of something, or walking into something, or tripping over something and exclaiming "oh, aw chair" [replace word as relevant] so often that JARVIS had updated his programming to respond with "bad chair" or "oh, aw!" completely dead pan. Bucky was almost jealous, but Tony's smile and the warmth in his voice as he spoke made it hard to find anything to hate about those moments. Soon, he thought, with time, Tony might sound and look like that when talking about him. 

"So," Tony drawled, dragging the word out over the several seconds he needed to get to his feet. He rocked back and forth once, indecisively, before turning and marching to the workbench. "Next time you wanna hang out, just uh, you know - you don't need to hurt yourself to come see me. Just - no touching, yeah?"

"No touching." Agreeing made his hands clenching over his thighs, but he agreed because Tony needed him to and he wanted to - couldn't stand the thought of doing anything else to hurt Tony, of doing something that would scare him. Soon, he thought, with time. 

It was hard not to touch Tony that evening during team movie night, since learning that Tony actually wanted to spend time with him, but not as hard as he thought it would be. Tony sat at the floor by Bruce's feet, the furthest arm chair away from the sofa Bucky shared with Steve (there was a space in between them, left open for Tony, but Natasha slotted herself in there before the genius had entered the room and no one dared to argue about it with her. Tony wouldn't have taken it anyway, but knowing that didn't make it easier for Bucky not to offer it when Tony walked passed in spite of Natasha’s elbow to the ribs). 

When Bruce started carding his hand absently through Tony's hair, it made Bucky’s teeth clench and something bitter and thick catch in his throat around a growl. Bruce was an omega too, and very obviously not interested. That made it slightly better. There were no alphas here but Steve that night, which also made things _better_. The betas all sat clustered together, nearer to him than to Tony (like they were doing it on purpose, instinctively trying not to interfere with his claim but also wanting to be close enough to stop him if he lost himself; to keep Tony safe from him). He wanted to touch Tony very much, wanted to be sitting beside him, or have him in his lap, or run his fingers through Tony's hair, feel the weight of his face against his knees as he fell asleep half way through the movie - but he didn't touch. 

He didn't touch.

Tony got the flu a day later, the medication affecting his suppressants. Two days after recovering, his heat hit unexpectedly. They were alone in the lab, Tony waxing poetic about his newest project, and Bucky listening intently, asking questions, trying to understand. They had been there for three hours, the first had been fine. The second was also fine, other than an odd change to Tony's scent: it became sweeter, thicker; Bucky could breathe it in from the other side of the workshop and get dizzy off of it. The first half of the third hour was much the same, but Bucky had started inching closer to Tony, and Tony shifting away - it probably seemed like Bucky was engrossed in the story, wanted to know, needed to hear more. But JARVIS knew better. Steve had been out of the Tower, but he arrived twenty minutes later, bursting into the lab as fast as the glass door would let him to the sight of Tony pinned to the workbench, face flushed and hands held over his head, panting wetly as Bucky pressed him down, nostrils flaring as he scented his neck, his jaw, his hair. It took the alpha ten seconds to realise there was someone else there, another eighteen minutes for Steve to pin Bucky down and eventually knock him unconscious. 

It took less than two minutes for JARVIS to convince Steve to take Tony out of the Tower. 

_XXX_

It had become much, much harder for Bucky to not touch Tony in those three hours. 

Now, it was easier not to touch - because Tony hadn't come back to the Tower since. It had been four days, and Bucky was contemplating whether he could get away with sneaking out of the window and scaling the side of the Tower to escape the Avengers' combined glares. JARVIS would probably snitch on him though, and tell Steve, and then Steve would give him those puppy eyes - like he'd just been kicked and was too hurt and sad to do anything about it but sigh heavily and stare until the guilt got at the other guy and they caved. Bucky wasn't going to cave; not for Steve. He shouldn't have jumped Tony, he knew he shouldn't have - and he'd apologise if Steve would ever let him near Tony again. But they were mated! Tony had, albeit, been unwilling - but so had Bucky. He had been the Winter Soldier at the time, Hydra's Asset, wound up and set free to complete his mission. He'd woken up, years later, the memory of threats against his mate to make him behave all he knew about the omega other than the sounds of him gasping during heat. Seeing him, knowing him, of course Bucky wanted him; who wouldn't? That didn't change the fact that Bucky hadn't chosen this either: not for him, and not for Tony. Tony deserved so much more and Bucky - well if Bucky had had a choice, he would have died after falling from the train, or Steve would have caught him. He would never have chosen to be what he was now, what Hydra had made him, what he had unmade and allowed himself to become - a murderer, a monster. A rapist. 

The law might not say he was one - omegas in heat couldn't be "raped" apparently. They wanted it, they needed it: what kind of an alpha could resist? 

Bucky had thought that was bullshit back in the 40s and he thought it was bullshit now. Sadly, he was far more intimately aware of how hard it was to resist an omega in heat. That had been the second time he'd lost control of himself during Tony's heat, would have been the second time he'd raped the other man if Steve hadn't dragged him off and beat him unconscious. He really needed to thank Steve for that, soon, maybe, if Steve ever came back to the Tower (with Tony preferably). 

The sooner the better, though, because smelling Tony everywhere but not seeing him, not hearing him? It was driving Bucky frantic. Steve would take care of his son, course he would, but Tony was Bucky's _mate_ : Bucky needed to protect him, to know he was safe. How was he supposed to protect Tony when he didn't even know where Tony was? How was he supposed to prove he was worth the time Tony wasted on him if he couldn't even do the most basic functions of an alpha? 

"Jarvis?" 

The voice in the ceiling didn't respond. 

"Tell him I'm sorry?" 

The silence continued, and Bucky's stomach clenched with shame. It must have shown on his face because a moment later, JARVIS responded. "Tell him yourself, sergeant. Sir has just arrived with Captain Rogers. They will arrive in the penthouse within the next five minutes." 

Barnes didn't waste any time making his way to the penthouse. The lift opened without him having to ask, and he mumbled a quick "thanks" at the ceiling as he all but ran inside. It opened and Bucky surged out into the room, which was already filling up with Avengers. He had been mostly avoiding them, and they had mostly glared at him, so it was a little awkward at first - especially once Bucky noticed that Rhodes had come back and was standing at the far side of the room with his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. 

Tony's private elevator doors slid open. Steve stepped out first, obviously mid rant judging by his raised tone of voice and the way he flailed his hands at the other occupant of the lift. Tony followed him out, rolling his eyes and humming in the appropriate places, although he had obviously stopped listening a long time ago judging by the way he was playing with his phone. When he caught sight of Bucky, his mouth stretched into a smile, wide and sweet and then he grinned full of teeth. The Soldier moved fast, it was part of his programming, part of what kept him alive and made him efficient on his missions. But when Tony wanted something, he could move pretty fast too. 

One second, he was at the elevator with Steve. Then the next, he was grabbing Bucky by the jaw with one hand and behind the neck with the other, and dragging his head down into a kiss. The other two alphas started growling. The other omega in the group shifted awkwardly away, eyes wide and turning green around the edges. Bucky tuned them out, uninterested, unbothered. He focused himself entirely on the omega in his arms as he snaked his hands down to Tony's waist, then under his shirt to press against the skin of his lower back. Bucky tugged Tony closer, until he was hunched over him, curled down around Tony, gathering the omega into his arms, chest to chest as he devoured the other man, thighs trembling from need. Tony whimpered into his mouth, chasing him as Bucky pulled away to breathe - fingers curled into strands of long, dark hair and tugged, trying to force the alpha to kiss him again. 

"I've missed you," the omega whispered, as he pressed his face to Bucky's chest. The alpha could feel the vibrations as he spoke, but even with his enhanced hearing the words were so low he had to struggle to hear them. "Didn't realise it till I was gone, but I missed you. Don't go again." 

"You don't go. I was right here." Tony made a low whining sound; the noise had the effect of making Bucky growl at whoever had displeased his mate, had Bucky pulling Tony tighter into the circle of his arms. "I won't let you go," he promised softly. 

The both ignored the growling and glaring that was happening at the far side of the room. Steve didn't matter, Rhodey didn't matter (but he appeared to have come to terms with it sometime during the second kiss), nothing mattered but them, and the fact that Tony was trying to kiss him again. So, Bucky kissed him. 

_XXX_

Leaving Bucky behind, unconscious and vulnerable, had been one of the hardest things Steve had ever had to do. It felt like he'd only gotten Bucky back; he wasn't ready to lose him again, but he wasn't about to let him _fall_ either - not in any sense of the word, not again. Steve knew what Bucky had done, knew what he and Tony had done (what had happened to Tony), but there was nothing he could do about that. Nothing would change that. But this? Steve could stop this. Could prevent Bucky from doing _it_ again, spare Bucky the guilt and spare Tony the entire experience. 

Steve had never been with an omega other than Howard and that had always been consensual, always agreed in advance that they'd share Howard's heats together. From what Steve had gathered and from what little Bucky had been willing to share (because Tony's mouth was, for once, like a steel trap when it came to this subject) the only alpha Tony had been with sexually _since_ Bucky _was_ Bucky and that had been very much not consensual. Pepper had been his alpha for a while, but the most they had done was kiss, the occasional grope on her part and Tony using his mouth or fingers on her: he'd never shared his heat with her, never let her inside of his body. It was probably one of the reasons that led to their break-up. Steve thought it said a lot about Tony that he had, perhaps without meaning to, stayed loyal to his mate. 

He said as much to himself, muttering under his breath as he dragged Tony out of the workshop. "Next time," he promised his son, "next time." That was, of course, assuming the other two pulled their heads out of their asses and discussed their relationship (or lack of) and their feelings (of which there were many). But Steve wasn't leaving Tony alone with Bucky like this, never like this. "Jarvis," he called, as he gave up and simply hoisted Tony over his shoulder. "A little help?"

"If I may, Captain," JARVIS began, hesitantly outlining his plan to enlist Pepper's help and discretion. Steve hadn't been too keen on the idea of taking Tony to another alpha, but not even two minutes later JARVIS announced that Bucky was starting to wake up. 

Four days later, and Steve was about ready to crash another plane into the ice. "I can go back now, honest. I'm fine. No heat. Nothing. All good, right Pepper, tell him Pep, see? Steve? See? I'm fine."

"Tony!" Steve hadn't meant to shout, he really hadn't, and he felt terrible the second he did (he felt even worse when Tony failed to hide a flinch). 

"Look, I get you were trying to help. I get it. But I don't need your help, or your mother-henning. You might be my biological father but you've done fuck all for me; hell, I didn't even know you until a few years ago and all we've done is butt heads. I don't need a dad. I don't want a dad - I had one of those and Howard sucked at it." He bit his tongue to keep himself from mentioning the original Jarvis, because if Steve didn't already know him, Steve didn't deserve to know of him. He had been Tony's, and Peggy's, and he already had to share Peggy on the few visits she was having a good enough day to recognise him as _him_. "I don't need you. I need to go home."

"Tony!" This time it was Pepper. She scolded him without raising her voice, in that perfect tone of voice caught between conveying disappointment and shock, but no anger. Tony didn't react well to other peoples' anger. His shoulders hunched though, hands balled at his sides and he grit out an apology that did little to make Steve feel any better. 

"If I knew, Tony, I swear if I knew Howard was pregnant, I would have found another way."

Tony looked at him, really looked at him, and Steve suddenly forgot how to breathe. Howard's eyes in a softer face, different facial hair, Steve's stubborn chin: but Howard's wide, doe eyes.

It felt like being punched in the gut, or having all the air sucked out of his lungs, or the first rush of freezing water sweeping over him through the broken windshield of the plane. Steve averted his eyes first, made a pained sound low in his throat; he wanted to grab hold of Tony and squeeze him tight, to feel his heart beat through his chest, hear him breathe soft and slow as he relaxed into Steve's arms the way Howard used to. But he couldn't, because Tony didn't want him to. Tony didn't want him. 

"Rule two," Pepper whispered, sounding sadder than Steve thought she had any right to be - she had dumped Tony after all, "alphas always leave. Howard told him that, you know. When Tony was young, told him that everyone always leave eventually, because omegas were weak. I think he was talking about himself, and you: of course, he spent a lot of his time talking about you. But Tony - well, Tony thought it was all about him, when doesn't he?" She tried to laugh but it sounded hollow. "Tony thinks he deserves to be left. But Tony, the Tony I know, he's a romantic, one of the kindest, bravest, loyalist men you will ever meet, and he'll put himself down because he expects everyone else to put him down, and at least when he does it he can laugh about it. Tony might not think he deserves to be loved, but he _wants_ to be loved. It won't work out, or maybe it will, honestly I hope it does but I don't know. Won't know, until they try. But Tony's been claimed; long before I came into his life, and no other alpha but Rhodey has stayed in his life since Mr Barnes left the first time. I don't think that's a coincidence. Your friend claimed him. He might have been in rut, or it might have been because Tony was your son and familiar on some level, I don't know." She trailed off, with a frown souring her face. There were tears in her eyes now as well, Steve noticed. 

"Ms Potts?" He wanted to lay his hand on her shoulder, offer her comfort, but he didn't. 

"Tony wants to be loved, and I assume Mr Barnes wants to love him - or at the very least mate with him again."

"Buck likes him," Steve admitted. "I told him he shouldn't pursue it. He's still recovering, you know, and Tony is - I love him, don't misunderstand, but he's a handful. Chaotic. What Buck needs right now is stability."

"He needs his mate," Pepper interrupted curtly. "From what Tony has told me these last few days, Bucky's spent more time with him in the lab than with you since Tony decided to talk to him. They bonded over coffee apparently. I've asked Jarvis to be sure, so I'm right in saying Mr Barnes doesn't even like coffee: he drinks it because Tony offers it to him, because it means he gets to spend time with Tony. It'll be good for him, to have someone to take care of, to be taken care of."

"I can take care of them!" 

Pepper smiled, soft but there was a hint of something else around her eyes and at the corners of her mouth - like she was faking it for a camera, like she didn't mean it. "I thought I could take care of him too, but it's different. I know you care about him, Steve. Both of them. But they're mates; family. You might have been family to Mr Barnes once, but you weren't Tony's, probably won't ever be if I'm honest. You might be friends - I can imagine you both being very good friends and I think Mr Barnes can help make that happen, give you something in common that isn't Howard. Mr Barnes needs to be needed, and Tony wants to be loved. As long as no one is getting hurt, there's no harm in it. Like I said, it might not work out, and we'll be there for them when that happens. Until then? Just make sure they discuss the possibility of Tony's heats before the next one."

"I told you, it was an accident! I was sick!" Tony protested loudly, voice carrying from the hallway as he made his way to Pepper's guest room, away from the kitchen. 

He must have been in the doorway, eavesdropping, Steve realised, eyes widening with horror. "You knew he was there?" 

"Yes. You needed to hear it, and he needed someone to defend him, someone to take his side." Pepper turned to follow Tony, but stopped in the doorway. There was a real smile on her face this time when she looked over her shoulder at Steve. "Now he needs someone to take him home."

"I'll take him," Steve offered readily. He might not think it was a good idea, but Pepper was right - if it didn't work out, he'd be there to pick up the pieces and put his family back together again, even if it meant having to choose between them. He owed Howard (and Tony) at least that much.

 _XXX_

Bucky tugged Tony closer, until he was hunched over him, curled down around Tony, gathering the omega into his arms, chest to chest as he devoured the other man. Tony could feel his thighs trembling where they were tucked up against his own. He whimpered into Bucky's mouth, whining lowly as Bucky pulled away. His fingers curled into strands of long, dark hair, tugged, tried to pull the alpha back to kiss him again. 

"I've missed you," he whispered, as he pressed his face to Bucky's chest. Going into heat alone with Bucky had been terrifying, because it had happened once before and Tony couldn't remember, didn't know, didn't understand why he had been mated and left alone. Had felt sick at the thought of being touched, at being abandoned, the thought of being stuck with a kid - unwanted and unloved like Tony had been - sickened at the thought of growing up to be just like Howard. Going through that again had petrified him: from the moment Tony realised what was happening, why Bucky had been inching closer and closer, up until he was pinned against the worktop in the lab, he had been too afraid to run in case he was chased and caught, too afraid to say no in case he was ignored, but too afraid of giving-in in case he enjoyed it. Everyone said an omega enjoyed it, they couldn't be raped because it went against their biology to refuse an alpha when they were in heat, but Tony couldn't remember if he had enjoyed it or not, didn't want to take the risk that he might now that he _knew_ Bucky. 

But waking up two days later and realising that he was alone, hadn't been fucked, that had been worse. What kind of an omega couldn't entice an alpha when they were in heat? How terrible did he have to be to have still, impossibly, been left behind _during_ his heat? 

In the two days since his heat had ended, Steve had told him about fighting Bucky off of him, knocking him out, and carting Tony away like a damsel in distress. Pepper had told him, and JARVIS had backed her up, that Bucky sat in the workshop most of the day waiting for him to come back and spent his nights pacing in front of the elevator... waiting for him to come back. No one brought him coffee here, no one smiled awkwardly at him from the other side of the desk, ignoring the way he shifted away or put furniture between them on purpose, no one laughed at his crappy jokes, or asked questions even if they knew they wouldn't understand the answers. Steve kept to the living room mostly, camped on the sofa at night, and Pepper was in work a lot - taking unexpected time off for Tony's heat had set her workload back a tonne. 

He hadn't planned to, hadn't worked it all out in his brain completely yet: still thinking and re-thinking then second guessing, but Tony had liked what Pepper had said to Steve, the words made pleasure curl in his gut, made his lips twitch, and his chest ache (and no, it wasn't a heart attack, JARVIS had promised). Tony had planned to go to his room, or the shop, work a bit and think some more and wait for Bucky to come down to him with some coffee. 

He hadn't planned to throw himself in Bucky's arms and kiss him, but he wasn't sorry that he had. 

"Didn't realise it till I was gone, but I missed you." he whispered into Bucky's chest, breathing in time to each of the soldier's breaths. It didn't escape his notice that Bucky was muttering "mineminemine" under his breath: the soldier didn't even appear to realise he was doing it, so Tony let it pass. Instead, he pleaded, "don't go again." 

"You don't go. I was right here." Bucky's voice was low and harsh, not angry (just not used to speaking since Tony had been gone), but Tony made a low whining sound anyway. Bucky growled, eyes seeking out anyone who might have displeased his mate, and met Steve's. "I won't let you go," he promised softly, even as Steve narrowed his eyes and growled back. 

Rhodey seemed to have lost interest, and the rest of the team wandered back into the kitchen - interrupted by Tony's arrival just as they were about to sit down to eat. "So," Bucky began, as he licked his lips nervously. "I hear dinner is still a date thing in this century?"

"Sure is," Tony agreed easily. He nuzzled his nose against Bucky's chest again, grinning at the gasp the alpha let out as his nipple was brushed. 

"Wanna go for dinner? With me, I mean? I mean, can I take you to dinner. On a date? With me? Or coffee? With _me_." His fucking palms were sweaty, hot against the skin of Tony's lower back, and the idea of Bucky being nervous made Tony so very, very calm. It made him feel strong, and sure, durable, like rule Number One was still right, but rule Number Two was maybe, possibly, probably wrong. 

And maybe he hadn't meant to throw himself right back into this, whatever this was, but sometimes you gotta run before you can walk, right? 

"This century is pretty equal opportunity, you know." Bucky looked a little worried when Tony pulled away far enough to see his face. It made the omega grin. "How about _I_ take _you_ to dinner?"

"You can take me anywhere you like, sweetheart, I ain't ever saying no. Not going anywhere either," Bucky added before Tony could think of asking. "Never going anywhere, so long as you want me around." 

Tony smiled, wide and bright. Yeah, maybe Number Two could use some re-wording cause Tony had great taste - just look at his alpha, that arm, those muscles, the _smile_ \- and, he thought as his smile because softer but no less honest, his father was pretty great also. That thought must have been written all over his face, because when Steve met his gaze, there were tears on his cheeks: he was smiling too. 

**The End**

I hate the ending. But it just wouldn’t end. It needed to end somehow because I have a month to finish the first draft of my Frostiron Bang submission…. But I might come back to this for some heat/mating cycle smut at some point? 

Enjoy


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